Description
To investigate the potential function of miRNAs during male gametogenesis in rice, we first obtained gene expression profiles by using Affymetrix microarray technologies. In genome-scale, we found a common characteristic shared by rice and Arabidopsis, which vast of genes are down regulated from Pb to Pc stage. next, a total of 13363 genes were detected during the gametophyte development in rice, which contains 2925 pollen-enriched/-specific genes including 107 transcription factors. We also analyzed the microarray-based expression patterns of genes in miRNA pathways, and found 3 pollen-specific AGO genes (AGO12, AGO13 and AGO17).